4 Suns players who are primed to disappoint this season

The Phoenix Suns may have failed to win a single playoff game last season, but the campaign was actually a success on the whole. This organization will only ever be judged on championships - that's how it goes when you've got Devin Booker and Kevin Durant - but they did manage to win 49 games.

Not only that, but they also got career years from a couple of role players, while others remained healthy when it didn't look like they could. The lack of depth was down to the fact they have three players on max contracts, and yet that same depth largely outperformed expectations.

Which is why reality is going to hit hard this season.

The law of averages telling us that it is highly unlikely as much goes right for the franchise this season as it did last time out. Disappointment means different things to different players - Booker not being named an All-Star for example would surely be one - so this list has not been compiled simply to rag on these guys. Rather relative to what we've seen and know of them, disappointment looms.

4. Monte Morris

It does seem extremely unfair to stick a player on this list who has yet to ever play a competitive game for the franchise, but that's the way it goes sometimes. Point guard Monte Morris was an excellent get earlier this offseason, until the Suns somehow stole Tyus Jones and the role of Morris was thrown into question.

With Jones now in line to be either the starting point guard or first man off the bench, the only way Morris can unfortunately go is down. What little chances he does get to impress he's going to be compared to Jones, and he's just not as good a player. There's no shame in that, but when you've got Jones, Booker and Bradley Beal who can handle the ball between them, why pick Morris?

Last season the Suns signed players like Keita Bates-Diop, Chimezie Metu and Yuta Watanabe, three players who on paper were wonderful gets on minimum deals. Despite all clearly having defined roles and obvious ways to help this roster, none of them lasted the full season in Phoenix.

With Morris now already looking like he is on the periphery of the rotation, why would it be any different for him? Morris has a career average of 10 points a night on 8.3 attempts per game. If you think he's going to get to shoot the ball that much with this group, you are in for a surprise. Morris will disappoint only because there's no room for him to show what he can do when this team is healthy.

3. Grayson Allen

Remember, disappointment is relative to each player on this list. Grayson Allen is still possibly going to start for the Suns, and he remains massively important to what they do. Had he not been nursing an ankle injury that limited him to only two games in the postseason last time out, things could have gone a little differently for the Suns.

But how do you top a season which you had career highs in points, rebounds and assists? All while leading the league in 3-point shooting at 46.1 percent. The answer unfortunately is that you don't, and Allen is going to come crashing back down to earth this season. He'll still be useful for the Suns and have his moments, just not in the same way as that fantastic first season that surprised us all.

Allen will now have to contend with either coming off the bench, or having the ball in his own hands less as a result of Jones being added to the roster. Not only that - but if Beal can play more than the 53 games he managed last time out - that is again going to be less minutes and touches that go the way of Allen.

He's still going to be expected to defend at the highest level possible, and that is with Royce O'Neale also encroaching on his territory. There's no doubt Allen and O'Neale are the two players most similar to one another on this roster, and O'Neale looked comfortable playing with the star starters after coming over at the trade deadline. Allen will be great and important, but it will be less impressive.

2. Bradley Beal

Without doubt the guy most likely to play his way off this list is Beal. He's been a multiple time All-Star and he's still only 31-years-old. After getting a run of games under his belt last season he was one of the Suns' better players to close out the regular season, his comfort level with his teammates continuing to rise.

Yet in the playoffs and despite seeing his minutes per game rise from 33.3 in the regular season to 38.5, Beal could only manage 16.5 points against the Minnesota Timberwolves. In his previous playoff outing with the Washington Wizards in 2020-21, that number was a massive 30 points in only one game and half a minute more of action.

It's clear then that Beal is not the player he was a few seasons ago, and as the third option in Phoenix perhaps that is ok. The Timberwolves had one of the top two defenses in the league last season, and there is no shame in getting shut down by a group that made it to the Western Conference Finals.

But to expect this to start trending seriously in the other direction with Beal is to expect disappointment, even though the Suns need him to recapture some of his former glory. They moved away from Chris Paul because his 40th birthday was on the horizon and injuries continued to pile up on his undersized body. The pivot to Beal wasn't supposed to break down so quickly as well.

1. Jusuf Nurkic

The harshest addition to be found here, but that is actually a positive if you think about it. When the Suns traded Deandre Ayton - a former first overall pick - for a package centered around Allen and Jusuf Nurkic, most thought the franchise had been fleeced. One year later, and they actually won that deal, managing to trade Ayton when his value was at its highest.

The expectations for Nurkic were small given his injury history with the Portland Trail Blazers, yet in his first season in The Valley he was everything the Suns needed him to be and more. He gave them just shy of 11 points and also 11 boards each night, and was the selfess offensive connective piece he promised to be. A far cry from Ayton, who when not engaged didn't do much of anything.

On the defensive end Nurkic used his large frame as best he could - and while he is certainly a limited center - he was also better than the Suns realistically could have expected. Perhaps most impressive of all, he somehow led the team in games played at 76. All of them were starts, and a couple of missed contests were for personal reasons, and not injury.

Which is why Nurkic will be the biggest disappointment of all, because the Suns aren't getting a season like that again. Opponents know he's the only legitimate starting-calibre big on their roster, and they're going to pick on a center who is now 30-years-old and surely will not be able to stay as healthy again this coming season.